


please☆angolmois

by enmity



Category: Persona 2, Persona Series
Genre: Gen, Pre-Canon, Selective Obliviousness, teenage angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-06
Updated: 2017-07-06
Packaged: 2018-11-28 15:25:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11420823
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/enmity/pseuds/enmity
Summary: There’s no such thing as success without teamwork, anyway — at least, that’s what all the shows Akari grew up with taught her. She just wishes that sometimes, the executives would get with that particular program already.(After joining the Masquerade, Akari attempts to get along with her superiors, to varying degrees of success. Well, not really. It's mostly just Anna.)





	please☆angolmois

please☆angolmois

☆

The decision comes to Akari on a droll Sunday morning.

It’s hot, outside; she has her air conditioner turned all the way up and the window open in the expectation of the slightest of breezes to stroll in. Downstairs, her mother is doing the dishes, and her father is no doubt tuned into the television set, giving his undivided attention to some stupid variety show or the other. She can hear the static of canned laughter, echoing all the way up to her ears. Something about it all makes her sick, and she knows exactly why.

Lying on her back, Akari reaches over from her bed towards the cellphone on her desk. The attached Blue Swan figurine dangles as she flips her phone open, thumb already hovering over the call button. Her eyes are lit up by the backlight. The only thing stopping her from dialing her own number, she knows, is the feeling of utterly giddy anticipation that comes with being on the very edge of what by all means and purposes is an entirely unremarkable, worthless life.

She thought of herself as having thoroughly prepared mentally for the moment of truth, for the time when she’d finally depart from thirteen years of painful mediocrity — but she supposes even reincarnated warriors have moments of weakness, no? Keeping this in mind, Akari measures her breathing, even as her treacherous heart starts beating double-time against her will, and closes her eyes.

The sequence comes to her without having to think. She’s practiced this many times already, over many nights; nights when her father returned from work late or when her mother ragged about her childish drawings and how she should pay more attention to her studies, good grief, she’ll be in high school in two years’ time.

The only difference is that this time, there’ll be no regrets.

Eyes shut tight, Akari presses the call button as hard as she can.

☆

King Leo is —

Okay. Let’s not sugarcoat it for a second, okay? King Leo is _weird_. Akari still remembers to call him _Master_ Leo, lest he starts doing that thing where he loses his temper and start talking about oracles and witches and whatever it was that happened ten years ago when she’s anywhere close enough to hear.

It creeps her out a little, actually. Maybe “a little” is an understatement. But don’t let anyone tell him she said that, okay?

Like, she respects him, to a degree: he’s the top-ranked Masked Executive for a reason, right? Akari trusts Joker, and so she has to trust King Leo by extension. That’s part of the unsaid agreement between them, or something like that.

That’s why she never says anything to King Leo’s face that she knows might hurt him. She might be thirteen and he might be forty-three, or fifty, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t get what it’s like to be picked on. So she puts up with him. That’s what good minions are supposed to do, even if she doesn’t like the title he’s given her all that much. They put up with their bosses.

☆

There’s no such thing as success without teamwork, anyway — at least, that’s what all the shows she grew up with taught her. She just wishes that sometimes, the executives would get with that particular program already.

They’re all just so _cold_ to each other. It kind of pisses Akari off, actually; she’s out here introducing herself nicely to all these executives, bringing in snacks she bought with her own money to every meeting and suggesting they do karaoke next time in an effort to strengthen the quickly put-together alliance they’ve formed — and all they give her amounts to little more than the occasional cold shoulder and some whispered remarks that Akari doesn’t hear, but is fairly certain aren’t nice or pretty at all. Even Joker’s always too busy to pay her suggestions any mind.

The only person that scares Akari more than King Leo, is Queen Aquarius. The combination of her harshness and coldness and utterly haughty demeanor is enough to send chills down anyone’s spine. Or maybe it’s the fact that she’s thirty-seven but looks and talks like she’s in her teens; something or the other.

Or — she winces — or maybe it’s Prince Taurus who’s worse?

Akari doesn’t even know where to begin with him.

She feels bad for thinking of her colleagues this way; aren’t they supposed to be a united force, defenders of all that is right and just? She doesn’t know what wishes they made when they summoned Master Joker, but Akari knows what _she_ wished for.

It’s just that… sometimes, even the power of love and ideals seem to mean nothing in the face of their unrelenting apathy.

Akari thinks about all this as she’s whisking sugar and butter into the bowl of cake dough she’s preparing to bake and present to the circle’s newest member during her initiation tomorrow. She’d use a mixer, but it’s late on a school night and she doesn’t want her parents to ask questions. She ends up screwing up the part where she draws the Scorpio symbol with icing — her hand is sore from all the whisking and she slipped, okay — but it’s the thought that counts, right?

☆

“Hey. Hey! Belle!” Akari nudges at the creature once, twice. It doesn’t work. She tries again: three, four, five times.

It’s at the sixth nudge that Belphegor wakes up, rising from his unfortunately-shaped porcelain throne to look at her. He’s such a heavy sleeper. “What is the matter, Master Ixquic?” Ahh, it feels good to be on the receiving end of that title for once. Akari beams at him.

“Belle,” she says. “Do you think Lady Scorpio will like the cake?”

“If you’d like, I can taste test for yo—”

“Nuh-uh!” She draws her hands away from his grubby demonic ones at the nick of time, securing the box of cake. She pulls it closer towards her chest, just to be safe. “You’re not the one it’s for! You’ll get your share after she gets hers. Capiche?”

Belphegor sighs, sounding long-suffering. He crosses his arms in front of his chest. “May I suggest we go over your introduction speech again? That might help take your mind off things, Master.”

“Alright! My vocabulary’s gonna impress her so much, she’ll definitely let slide how badly I messed up her symbol. Let’s get started, Belle!”

☆

To her disappointment, Lady Scorpio turns out to be just as cold and distant as the rest of them. Ixquic isn’t the reincarnated warrior for nothing, though; she hasn’t given up on her just yet. The fact that she’s only four and not, like, twenty years older than Akari means she still has a chance.

After she sings her third solo in a row and her throat feels so dry she can barely open her mouth, Akari shoves the microphone at Lady Scorpio’s face, and doesn’t even wince when the other girl just turns her face away, her lack of interest utter and apparent.

“Hey, come on! Lighten up a little, new recruit,” Akari says. She swings the papier-mâché sword she ingeniously succeeded in sneaking in past the front desk to prove her point. “You’re not even in costume yet! Get dressed already. At least wear your mask.”

“Joker’s not here yet,” Lady Scorpio remarks dully, one hand framing the left side of her face as she gives the booth a quick once-over. Ash falls from the lit end of the second cigarette she’s had since she came in, dirtying the velvet carpet with black and grey. The blue matches the color of her shirt. “Why did it have to be a karaoke booth, anyway…?”

“Because,” Akari says triumphantly, once she's gulped down the thankfully-complimentary bottled water and her throat doesn't feel so strained anymore, “I said so.” Nothing beats singing together when it comes to strengthening bonds. Why else would musicals exist? “Everyone else is just a little late. I’m sure we’ll all be having fun by the time everyone’s arrived.”

“Hey,” Lady Scorpio says, after a minute of awkward silence. Something in her expression seems to have softened, if only by a degree, and barely visible in the dim light. Akari takes notice. “Tell me something, Ixquic. How’d you end up being Joker’s follower in the first place?”

“He granted my ideals and I swore my loyalty to him in return,” answers Akari. “Isn’t that how it is with you, too?”

The other girl’s eyes widen, but only briefly. Something like hurt or sorrow flashes by her face and before Akari can ask her what’s wrong, she asks: “What did you wish for?”

“I was sick of the life I led,” Akari says, and smiles, despite knowing that she can’t see it. “So I wished to become a warrior. And he granted my wish.”

Lady Scorpio’s expression turns unreadable. “How foolish,” she says, not bothering to whisper, but at the same time she snuffs out the cigarette, getting up from the seat and opening the lid of the box on the table out of what seems to be more than simple curiosity.

Something in Akari’s chest tightens — perhaps it’s from anticipation, or terror. She remembers feeling the same way whenever she walked up to her mother to show her another one of her drawings. She’s definitely glad she’s wearing her mask right now.

“This is… for me, isn’t it?” Lady Scorpio asks. Akari nods.

Her mouth curves upward into a barely-there smile. She doesn’t say _thank you_ , or _I appreciate the effort_ , or _you didn’t mess up the icing that badly_ — but she does ask if she can have a slice. It’s enough to make Akari beam, even if it means she’ll have to redo her papier-mâché sword, now that it’s all dirty and icky with blue and white icing. Sometimes warriors need to make sacrifices, after all; especially if it means making a girl smile (even if barely).

**Author's Note:**

> 29/09/17: i almost forgot i made this, but, i wrote it in part to thank someone who'd been reading my previous fanfics, who had akari as her profile picture. and also bc there's no fanfic about her! hopefully she wasn't too chuuni in this haha


End file.
